An Anglican bishop has said he is prepared to convert to Roman Catholicism after the General Synod voted to allow women bishops. The traditionalist Bishop of Ebbsfleet has asked the Pope, as well as Catholic leaders in England and Wales, to help him and his parishes defect to Rome. The Right Reverend Andrew Burnham said objectors within the Church of England were feeling ‘shipwrecked’. He said: ‘We are floating in the water looking for someone to rescue us.’ A Church of England group is drawing up a code of practice to reassure critics after the Synod vote earlier this week. The Synod voted in favour of consecrating women and against safeguards demanded by traditionalists opposed to the move. Following the vote the Vatican said the result would create an ‘obstacle’ to reconciliation between Anglicans and Catholics. The Roman Catholic church does not ordain women. Writing in the Catholic Herald the bishop called for ‘magnanimous gestures from our Catholic friends, especially from the Holy Father, who well understand our longing for unity and from the hierarchy in England and Wales’. ‘Most of all we ask for ways that allow us to bring […]
Rapid changes in the churning movement of Earth’s liquid outer core are weakening the magnetic field in some regions of the planet’s surface, a new study says. ‘What is so surprising is that rapid, almost sudden, changes take place in the Earth’s magnetic field,’ said study co-author Nils Olsen, a geophysicist at the Danish National Space Center in Copenhagen. The findings suggest similarly quick changes are simultaneously occurring in the liquid metal, 1,900 miles (3,000 kilometers) below the surface, he said. The swirling flow of molten iron and nickel around Earth’s solid center triggers an electrical current, which generates the planet’s magnetic field. The study, published recently in Nature Geoscience, modeled Earth’s magnetic field using nine years of highly accurate satellite data. Flip-Flop Fluctuations in the magnetic field have occurred in several far-flung regions of Earth, the researchers found. In 2003 scientists found pronounced changes in the magnetic field in the Australasian region. In 2004, however, the changes were focused on Southern Africa. The changes ‘may suggest the possibility of an upcoming reversal of the geomagnetic field,’ said study co-author Mioara Mandea, a scientist at the German Research Centre for Geosciences in […]
A third of the world’s reef-building coral species are facing extinction. That is the stark conclusion from the first global study to assess the extinction risks of corals. Writing in the journal Science, researchers say climate change, coastal development, overfishing, and pollution are the major threats. The economic value of the world’s reefs has been estimated at over $30bn (£15bn) per year, through tourism, fisheries and coastal protection. ‘The picture is frightening,’ said Alex Rogers from the Zoological Society of London, one of 39 scientists involved in the assessment. ‘It’s not just the fact that something like a third of all reef-forming corals are threatened, but that we could be facing the loss of large areas of these ecosystems within 50 to 100 years. ‘The implications of that are absolutely staggering – not only for biodiversity, but also for economics.’ The analysis shows that reef-building corals are more threatened than any group of land-dwelling animals except amphibians. ‘Incredible’ destruction The most dramatic decline in recent years was caused by the 1997/8 El Nino event, which caused waters to warm across large swathes of the tropics. CORAL – KEY FINDINGS Known […]
Nearly everyone had something to cheer about on Wednesday after the major industrial powers and a big group of emerging nations pledged to pursue ‘deep cuts’ in emissions of heat-trapping gases in coming decades. President Bush, who had insisted that any commitment to combat global warming must involve growing economies as well as the rich nations, recruited China and India to the table and received rare accolades from some environmentalists for doing so. The developing countries received a promise that the rich countries would take the lead in curbing emissions. And environmentalists said the agreements renewed chances of reviving two ailing climate pacts, the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. But behind the congratulatory speeches on Wednesday, some experts said, was a more sobering reality. The documents issued by the participating countries had very few of the concrete goals needed to keep greenhouse gases from growing at their torrid pace, they said. The statement issued by the industrialized Group of 8 pledged to ‘move toward a carbon-free society’ by seeking to cut worldwide emissions of heat-trapping gases in half by 2050. But the statement did not say whether that […]
WASHINGTON — Now that diesel prices have jumped well beyond $4 a gallon, the volunteer rescuers who protect most of the United States have begun rethinking how they respond to emergencies. In state after state, fire chiefs are leaving fuel-guzzling pumpers and ladder trucks back at the station. They’re cutting out-of-town training for firefighters. They’re dipping into equipment budgets to save money and clustering errands to save mileage. In one Pennsylvania department, firefighters even skip community parades because they can’t afford to drive the routes. ‘We made the decision earlier this year,’ said Ed Mann, who volunteers as the assistant chief in Mifflin County, Pa., where he’s also the state fire commissioner. ‘The costs of fuel right now, it’s like a trickle-down effect everywhere,’ Mann said. The problems are the same across the country, where more than two-thirds of the geography is protected by an estimated 800,000 volunteers. Most of them work in rural areas, where they must drive long distances to emergencies and often rely on donations from spaghetti dinners and bingo nights. ‘A lot of these (departments) are already struggling financially,’ said David Finger, the vice president for government affairs for the […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
